With invisible special envoys, not sure why/how Clinton must "reassert" role

WORLD NEWS: "Clinton Reasserts Her Role in U.S. Foreign Policy: Secretary of State's Profile Rises as Obama's 'Engagement' Diplomacy Comes Under Pressure; Shuttling Around the Mideast," by Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, 2 November 2009.

To me, this is idle gossip. Clinton, along with Gates, will be more hawkish than the rest of the cabinet, especially in combination. I think the administration needs that sort of push from the inside, because its instinct will always be to temporize when it can, given the strategic hand it was dealt by Bush-Cheney.

So I expect the harsher-line view to fail most of the time, for good reasons, but I see no reason to--on that basis--obsess over who's up or down.